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Sean Newcomb

Sean Newcomb Undergoes Right Knee Surgery, Expected To Be Ready For Spring Training

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A’s reliever Sean Newcomb underwent arthroscopic surgery on his right knee, the team announced (relayed by Martín Gallegos of MLB.com). It’s apparently a minor procedure, as Newcomb is still expected to be ready for Spring Training.

In late September, the southpaw underwent a meniscus repair on his other knee. Two procedures, even if neither is expected to require a notable absence, surely isn’t how he envisioned the start to his A’s tenure. Oakland had acquired Newcomb from the Giants in late August, a post-deadline trade made possible by the fact that neither he nor outfielder Trenton Brooks (who went to S.F. in return) had been on the 40-man roster to that point in the season.

The A’s quickly selected Newcomb’s contract. He pitched seven times before the left knee injury ended his year. The 30-year-old allowed five runs over 15 innings, fanning 17 while issuing nine walks. The front office was intrigued enough by Newcomb’s form to sign him to a $1MM contract within the first few days of the offseason. That bought out his second-to-last arbitration year.

As a result, Newcomb has a good chance of breaking camp in Mark Kotsay’s bullpen. A former first-round pick and top prospect, he has reached the majors in seven straight years. Newcomb had a couple strong seasons early in his career while operating out of the Atlanta rotation. Increasing strike-throwing issues have pushed him to the bullpen and the fringes of clubs’ rosters. He owns a 6.70 ERA in 88 2/3 MLB innings dating back to the start of 2020.

Athletics, Sean Newcomb Agree To Deal For 2024

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The Athletics and left-hander Sean Newcomb are in agreement on a deal for 2024, per Robert Murray of Fansided and Jon Heyman of The New York Post. The lefty will make $1MM next year.

Oakland acquired Newcomb in a minor league trade with the Giants in August. He made seven appearances in green and gold, allowing five runs in 15 innings. Newcomb punched out 17 while walking nine, averaging a little over 93 MPH on his fastball. His season was cut short by a meniscus tear that required surgery in mid-September.

With between four and five years of MLB service, Newcomb was eligible for arbitration this offseason. MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projected him for the $1MM salary to which he has agreed. He’ll likely occupy a spot in the season-opening bullpen and would remain eligible for arbitration for one more season if he pitches well enough to stick on the MLB roster.

Sean Newcomb Undergoes Knee Surgery

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Athletics lefty Sean Newcomb underwent a left knee lateral meniscus repair earlier today, reports Martin Gallegos of MLB.com. The A’s had already placed Newcomb on the 60-day injured list earlier today, ending his season, though it wasn’t known until now that surgery was on the table for the southpaw.

The A’s acquired Newcomb from the Giants in a late-August trade that sent minor league outfielder Trenton Brooks to across the bay. Both players were eligible to be traded after the deadline by virtue of the fact that they had not appeared on a 40-man roster or Major League injured list this season.

At the time of the swap, the well-traveled Newcomb was enjoying a nice season in Triple-A Sacramento, where he’d pitched 31 1/3 innings of 3.16 ERA ball with a hefty 30.5% strikeout rate against a more problematic 15.3% walk rate. He was immediately selected to Oakland’s big league roster and went on to pitch 15 innings for manager Mark Kotsay, holding opponents to five runs (3.00 ERA) on eight hits and nine walks with 17 strikeouts. Newcomb’s final two appearances were starts, totaling a combined seven innings with four runs on six hits and five walks.

Newcomb, 30, is expected to be ready for the start of spring training next year. Of course, it remains to be seen whether the A’s will carry him on the 40-man roster all winter. While they did trade a minor leaguer to acquire him, Brooks himself was a minor league signee last offseason and would’ve been a minor league free agent at season’s end, so they didn’t exactly surrender a long-term piece in order to acquire Newcomb. That said, the A’s are desperate for arms, and Newcomb made a solid first impression on the club.

This is the seventh straight year in which Newcomb has logged big league time, although the former first-round pick and top prospect has struggled greatly since showing promise with the Braves early in his career. Atlanta acquired Newcomb and righty Chris Ellis from the Angels in the trade that sent Andrelton Simmons to Anaheim, and Newcomb posted a 3.87 ERA and 23% strikeout rate through his first 332 1/3 big league innings — splitting his appearances roughly evenly between the rotation (2017-18) and bullpen (2019).

Newcomb’s disastrous 2020 season set him back, however, as he served up 17 runs in just 13 2/3 innings across four starts. The following year, he walked 18% of his opponents while pitching 32 1/3 innings of relief, and the 2022 season saw Newcomb surrender 27 runs in 27 2/3 innings between the Cubs and Braves. Overall, Newcomb has a 4.47 ERA in 421 Major League innings, but that’s including his strong early showing with Atlanta. Since 2020, he’s pitched to a 6.70 ERA with a 23.6% strikeout rate and bloated 14.7% walk rate in 88 2/3 innings.

Newcomb will finish out the current season with four-plus years of Major League service time. The A’s can control him through the 2025 season via arbitration if they keep him on the 40-man roster.

Athletics Select Joey Estes

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Sept. 20: The A’s have formally announced Estes’ promotion to the big leagues. Righty Devin Sweet was optioned to Triple-A in order to open a spot on the active roster, while lefty Sean Newcomb has been transferred to the 60-day injured list to open a spot on the 40-man roster. Newcomb was placed on the 15-day IL earlier this week with a left knee strain, and that injury will formally end his season.

Sept. 18: The A’s are poised to select the contract of right-hander Joey Estes, according to Martin Gallegos of MLB.com. The club will need to clear space on both the 40-man and active rosters in order to make room for Estes.

Estes, 21, was a piece of the package that Oakland acquired from the Braves in exchange for first baseman Matt Olson alongside Cristian Pache, Shea Langeliers, and Ryan Cusick. Estes ranks as the club’s #13 prospect per MLB Pipeline, and #21 over at Fangraphs. Though prospect evaluators seem to generally agree that he’ll have a chance to stick in the rotation, a lack of clearly above-average secondary pitches is expected to hold Estes back from becoming more than a back-end rotation option, though his fastball does have impressive movement.

Estes was impressive in 104 1/3 innings of work at the Double-A level this year, posting a 3.28 ERA in 20 appearances (17 starts) with a 23.3% strikeout rate against a 7.2% walk rate. Those results have fallen off since his promotion to Triple-A as Estes has posted a less inspiring 5.23 ERA with a 21.5% strikeout rate in his first 32 2/3 innings at the level, though it’s worth noting that inflated offensive environment of the Pacific Coast League.

Now, Estes figures to get a taste of big league action before the 2023 season comes to a close, setting him up as a potential rotation option for the A’s headed into Spring Training next year. Estes follows right-hand Joe Boyle in being called up for a late-season cup of coffee, as Boyle tossed three scoreless innings on four strikeouts, one hit, and two walks in his big league debut after being selected to the roster himself yesterday.

A’s Select Joe Boyle

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The A’s selected the contract of right-hander Joe Boyle this afternoon, per a team announcement. In corresponding moves, right-hander Freddy Tarnok was transferred to the 60-day injured list while lefty Sean Newcomb was placed on the 15-day injured list with a strained left knee.

Boyle, who celebrated his 24th birthday last month, came over from the Reds as the return in the Sam Moll trade earlier this summer. Standing a massive 6’7” and weighing in at 240 pounds, Boyle has shown an impressive power arsenal with a triple-digit fastball and strong breaking stuff that has allowed him to strikeout a whopping 35.4% of batters faced as a professional. Unfortunately, that strong repertoire comes with little in terms of command, as the big righty has posted walk rates of 10% or higher at every full-season league he’s appeared in since being drafted by the Reds in the fifth round of the 2020 draft.

Boyle is now slated to get a chance to show off his big time stuff at the big league level, as he’ll start today’s game against the Padres. Boyle’s posted a solid 3.84 ERA across 25 starts split between the Double-A and Triple-A levels this season. That’s a particularly noteworthy feat considering he’s posted an ERA of just 2.25 in three starts at the Triple-A level with the A’s, who play in infamously inflated offensive environment of the Pacific Coast League.

Making room for Boyle on the active roster is Newcomb, who pitched quite well in a swing role for the A’s this season. Across 15 innings of work (seven appearances), Newcomb posted a 3.00 ERA with a 27.9% strikeout rate, though his whopping 14.8% walk rate indicates that the control issues that have dogged him ever since he made his big league debut with the Braves back in 2017 haven’t gone away. As for Tarnok, the right-hander underwent season-ending hip surgery toward the end of August, making today’s transfer to the 60-day IL nothing more than a formality.

Athletics Select Sean Newcomb

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The A’s have selected the contract of left-hander Sean Newcomb, the team announced. Fellow lefty Hogan Harris was optioned to Triple-A Las Vegas in his place, while left-hander Richard Lovelady was moved from the 15-day IL to the 60-day IL to open a spot on the 40-man roster. Oakland just acquired Newcomb from the Giants yesterday in a trade sending minor league outfielder Trenton Brooks back to San Francisco.

[Related: How to acquire players after the trade deadline]

As noted at the time of the trade yesterday, it seemed quite likely Newcomb would be in line for a look at the big league level with the A’s sooner than later. He’d be a free agent at season’s end if not added to the 40-man roster, so there was little sense in making a trade to acquire him if the plan wasn’t to see if he could contribute for them. He has 4.073 years of big league service, so he won’t have enough time remaining this season to get to five years. As such, if Newcomb can pitch well enough to hold a 40-man spot, the A’s would control him for an additional two seasons beyond the current year.

The 30-year-old Newcomb has pitched to a 3.16 ERA and fanned 30.5% of his opponents through 31 1/3 Triple-A frames this season, though his longstanding command issues have persisted as well (15.3% walk rate). Traditionally more of a fly-ball pitcher, Newcomb is sporting a huge 59.4% ground-ball rate in Triple-A this season.

In 406 big league innings, Newcomb has a 4.52 ERA, though he’s now nearly five years removed from the majority of his MLB success. The headline prospect acquired by the Braves in the trade that sent Andrelton Simmons to Anaheim, Newcomb posted a combined 3.87 ERA and 23% strikeout rate in his first 332 1/3 Major League innings. He looked to have cemented his status on the Braves’ pitching staff at that point, but Newcomb was blasted for 17 runs in 13 2/3 innings over four starts in the shortened 2020 season and has yet to recover. Dating back to 2020, he has a 7.45 ERA in 73 2/3 frames at the big league level.

The A’s, on the lookout for pitching help they can control beyond the current season, will see whether Newcomb’s new ground-ball approach can lead to better results in the big leagues. He’ll still need to improve his command, but Newcomb’s blend of missed bats and grounders is at least somewhat intriguing.

A’s Acquire Sean Newcomb From Giants

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The Athletics have acquired veteran left-hander Sean Newcomb from the Giants in exchange for minor league outfielder Trenton Brooks, per the teams’ transaction logs at MLB.com. It’s a rare post-deadline trade that sees a player going each way (as opposed to the more common cash trades in August) and an even rarer trade between the two Bay Area clubs. Both Newcomb and Brooks were eligible to be traded by virtue of the fact that they have not appeared on a 40-man roster or Major League injured list in 2023.

[Related: How to Acquire Players After the Trade Deadline]

Newcomb, 30, signed a minor league deal with the Giants over the winter and has primarily worked out of the bullpen in their system, pitching to a 3.16 ERA in 31 1/3 innings with Triple-A Sacramento. The command issues that have long plagued Newcomb persist (15.3% walk rate in Triple-A), but he’s fanned an impressive 30.5% of his opponents and has clearly changed up his repertoire a bit, based on a career-high 59.4% ground-ball rate. The left-hander posted a combined 35.2% grounder rate in 73 2/3 innings from 2020-22 — his most recent MLB work.

Early in his career, Newcomb looked like a budding mainstay on the Braves’ roster. Acquired from the Angels in the trade that sent Andrelton Simmons to Anaheim, Newcomb posted a 3.87 ERA and 23% strikeout rate through his first 332 1/3 big league innings — splitting his appearances roughly evenly between the rotation (2017-18) and bullpen (2019).

The 2020 season was a disaster for the former first-round pick, however, as he was tagged for 17 earned runs in just 13 2/3 innings spread across four starts. Newcomb walked 18% of his opponents the following year while pitching 32 1/3 innings out of the bullpen, and he yielded 27 runs in 27 2/3 innings between the Braves and Cubs last year.

Overall, Newcomb has a 4.52 ERA in 406 big league innings, but the vast majority of that success came upwards of five years ago at this point. He can be a free agent at season’s end if he’s not added to the big league roster, so it stands to reason that the A’s wouldn’t have given up a minor league player if he weren’t going to be selected to the Majors sometime soon. In the event that Newcomb can reestablish himself as a viable big league arm — presumably out of the bullpen, given his ’23 usage — the A’s would be able to control him through the end of the 2025 season via arbitration.

Brooks, 28, is in his first season with Oakland after spending the prior seven season in Cleveland’s system. The former 17th-round pick signed a minor league deal with the A’s after reaching minor league free agency, and he’s turned in a stout .299/.405/.529 output (125 wRC+) in 412 plate appearances in Triple-A this year. He’s turned in career-best marks in home runs (16) doubles (29) and stolen bases (five) — all while walking at a career-high (in a full season) 13.8% mark against just a 14.6% strikeout rate.

Defensively, Brooks has rotated between first base (816 innings), left field (1460 innings) and right field (1469 innings) throughout his professional career. He’s played all three spots in 2023, though this year’s usage skews more toward left field. He’ll give the Giants a left-handed-hitting corner option at a time when outfield options Mike Yastrzemski, AJ Pollock, Mitch Haniger and Mark Mathias are all on the injured list.

Giants Sign Sean Newcomb To Minor League Deal

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The Giants announced their invitees to Major League Spring Training on Monday, revealing within that they’ve inked left-hander Sean Newcomb to a minor league pact.

It’ll be the third organization in the past calendar year for Newcomb, a former top prospect who was the centerpiece of the Braves’ return for Andrelton Simmons back in Nov. 2015. Newcomb spent the 2016-22 seasons in the Braves organization, getting several looks at the MLB level but never replicating the promise he showed early in his career, when he logged a 3.87 ERA through his first 332 1/3 big league innings (2017-19). Command was an issue even then, and the Braves moved Newcomb to the bullpen in 2019, but it was nonetheless a promising start to Newcomb’s time in the Majors.

The following three seasons proved difficult, to say the least. Newcomb pitched to a 6.71 ERA across 51 innings with the Braves from 2020-22, walking 37 of the 246 batters he faced in that time (15%) and plunking another five. With Newcomb unable to be sent to Triple-A due to his lack of remaining minor league options, the Braves designated him for assignment and flipped him to the Cubs in exchange for veteran Jesse Chavez. Chicago surely hoped to be able to unlock something in Newcomb, who’s controllable through the end of the 2024 campaign, but the trade didn’t work out at all as they’d hoped.

To the contrary, Newcomb was tagged for 23 earned runs in 22 2/3 innings with the Cubs. He walked 13.8% of his opponents there as well, an ugly rate that was compounded by a sudden susceptibility to home runs at a previously unseen rate. Newcomb yielded a jarring seven home runs with the Cubs despite facing just 108 hitters; his 2.78 HR/9 mark with the Cubs ranked among the highest of any pitcher to throw at least 20 innings in 2022. Chavez, meanwhile, was highly effective in a reunion tour with the Braves, pitching to a 2.72 ERA with plus strikeout and walk rates in 53 frames.

For all Newcomb’s struggles, he still carries a career 3.12 ERA and 28.4% strikeout rate in the minors, including a 2.72 ERA and 31% strikeout rate in parts of four Triple-A seasons. Walks have always been an issue, but Newcomb is still 29 years old, misses bats in bunches and has plenty of success in the upper minors. The Giants have developed a reputation for rehabilitating pitchers and revitalizing their careers, and Newcomb will hope to add his name to a growing list of San Francisco success stories.

34 Players Become Free Agents

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The Wild Card round of the 2022 postseason begins today, but for the majority of teams and players, the offseason is now underway. With that will come plenty of roster formalities, including veteran players who’ve been outrighted off their respective teams’ rosters reaching minor league free agency. This week, there have been 34 such instances throughout the league, per the transactions log at MiLB.com.

None of these are a surprise, to be clear. Any player who is not on his team’s 40-man roster at season’s end but has three-plus years of Major League service time, multiple career outright assignments and/or seven-plus seasons in the minors has the right to elect free agency. Everyone in today’s group of players falls under that umbrella. The majority of the group will likely find minor league deals over the winter, although a few of the players in question could potentially find a big league deal as a bench piece or middle-inning reliever.

There will be several more waves of players of this ilk, and we’ll make note of them in bunches over the coming weeks as we await the launch of Major League free agency, when all unsigned players with at least six years of Major League service time will reach the open market. For now, here’s the first of what will likely be several waves of newly minted minor league free agents:

Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders

Pitchers

NL Central Notes: Ashby, Lauer, Peralta, Thompson, Newcomb

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The Brewers are planning to activate left-hander Aaron Ashby to start tomorrow’s game, tweets Adam McCalvy of MLB.com. Ashby went on the IL August 22 due to shoulder inflammation and will now return after just under a month. The southpaw likely won’t be ticketed for extended duty at first as he hasn’t ventured out onto any kind of rehab assignment. He spoke to McCalvy about the decision, saying that he has been feeling good in recent bullpen sessions, getting up to around 30 pitches.

The Brewers are in a tight postseason race, currently sitting two games behind the Phillies for the final National League Wild Card spot with just over two weeks remaining in the regular season. Given that narrow timeframe, it seems the club has opted to try and get Ashby back on the mound quicker than perhaps they would have under different circumstances. With Eric Lauer and Freddy Peralta also landing on the IL in recent weeks, the club’s rotation has been a bit snakebit recently, which might have also motivated the club to get aggressive with Ashby’s return. Lauer and Peralta could get back into the mix soon as well, with McCalvy relaying that Lauer could return on Friday, though in a short stint similar to Ashby. Peralta might be a bit behind those two, having just started mound work today.

Through 96 1/3 innings on the year, Ashby has a 4.58 ERA with a very strong 27% strikeout rate and 55.6% ground ball rate. However, he’s been held back by a 10% walk rate and a 19.7% HR/FB rate.

Other notes from around the division…

  • Just like the Brewers, the Cubs will also be bringing back one of their starters for truncated work down the stretch. Meghan Montemurro of the Chicago Tribune relays word from manager David Ross that right-hander Keegan Thompson will be activated in the coming days to pitch out of the bullpen. Thompson has had a solid sophomore effort here in 2022, throwing 104 1/3 innings so far with a 3.97 ERA, 20.5% strikeout rate, 8.3% walk rate and 40% ground ball rate. His campaign was interrupted by low back tightness, sending him to the IL a month ago. With the season winding down and the Cubs well out of contention, they will let Thompson throw a bit more at the big league level before the offseason arrives.
  • Left-hander Sean Newcomb, designated for assignment by the Cubs on the weekend, has cleared waivers and been outrighted to Triple-A, per Montemurro. That’s hardly surprising, given that Newcomb already cleared waivers earlier this year and has an ERA of 8.78 for the season. Players who have been previously outrighted or those with over three years of MLB service time are eligible to reject outright assignments and elect free agency. Newcomb qualifies on both counts, meaning he could head to the open market if he so chooses, though it’s unclear at this point if he’s made a decision in that regard.
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